Title What was once old... two recent initiatives at HKU Author(s) Sidorko, PE Citation Annual Meeting of the Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance (PRDLA), Singapore Management University, Singapore, 29-31 October 2008. Issued Date 2008 URL http://hdl.handle.net/10722/63620 Rights Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License
What Was Once Old Two Recent Initiatives at HKU Peter Sidorko Deputy University Librarian 29 October 2008
Project 1: Rare Book Digitisation Project A HKUL igroup Collaboration
Project Scope Digitization, i.e. scanning of images and production of 4,000 e books (about 1,200,000 images) in 12 months Rare, out of copyright books on China and Asia written in English Project started in July 2008
Motivators Preservation Access Improving searching capabilities Supporting teaching and research Strengthening the role of HKU Libraries as a digital content provider
Books to be digitized Western Rare books about Asia, including: Morrison Collection Hankow Collection Chater Collection
Morrison Collection Formerly Library of the Morrison Education Society, an educational institution set up in 1836 to further the work of Rev Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary in China Opened in Old English Factory, Guangzhou, in early 1838
Books from: Library at the English Factory (1806 1834)
Robert Morrison s books from his son, John R. Morrison, when he passed away in 1843
From Guangzhou to HKU
The Collection No new additions since 1869 Representative of the period Bible in different languages Some books on China 1,284 titles in 2,726 volumes
Hankow Collection The British founded the Hankow Club in 1878 to provide amenities for the foreign communities in Hankow A place for fun and social gatherings In Chinese the Club was called 大波樓 and 波羅館 (Chinese translation of pool?)
Where was it?
The first library in the foreign concessions in Hankow Honorary Librarian Dr A.H. Skinner, a British physician who lived in Hankow for 30 years The Library came to accumulate one of the best Far Eastern Collections in any library in China in the early twentieth century
About the Library Card catalogue Book catalogue Book selection policy Library regulations
From Hankow to HKU China s Recovery of the British Concession in Hankow in 1927 Exodus of foreigners from Hankow The Hankow Club decided to sell books HKU bought the China section of the library collection in 1932 for HK$25,000 Three thousand volumes of books and journals with an emphasis on the Far East
Chater Collection Sir Paul Chater built up a fine collection of oil paintings, print sketches, books and photographs on China. He passed away in 1926 and bequeathed his collection to Hong Kong.
The Collection Sir Cecil Clementi, Governor of Hong Kong from 1925 to 1930, presented the Chater books to the University in 1927 Book list available at The Chater collection: pictures relating to China, Hongkong, Macao, 1655 1860 by James Orange (1924) Mainly 19 th century imprints Some with excellent illustrations
Scanners Kirtas APT 2400 an automatic book digitization device that features an integrated automatic pageturning robot
The Kirtas APT 2400 2400 images per hour Two 16.6 megapixel cameras simultaneous L/R capture Auto adjusting cradle (as pages decrease/increase) Adjustable, robotic vacuum arm changes pages Page fluffers
ATIZ BookDrive DIY Book scanning platform with a v shaped, autoadjusting book cradle and platen to capture images with no page curvature and is easy on book bindings 700 pages per hour
A manual Kirtas!
The scanners in action
Regional Workflow
Regional Workflow HKU (Hong Kong) 1. Inspect and select books (HKU) 2. Scanning at HKU Main Library (igroup) igroup (Thailand) 3. Editing and cleaning Quality control of every image 4. OCR for text and metadata
Regional Workflow igroup (Singapore) Publishing as an ebook on igroup platform E distribution, or, igroup (Taiwan) Print on demand
Some examples Raw image from camera Cleaned image
Some examples Raw image from camera Cleaned image
Challenges Lighting and setup/layout of book Removing book stains and OCR accuracy Tightly bound books/thick books Uneven surfaces from humidity etc Aligning pages and opposite pages Odd sized books Folded maps & plans Old fonts difficult to OCR Human intervention required most of the time.
Project 2: RFID Collection Management and Circulation Project
RFID at HKUL First university library installation in Hong Kong Largest library RFID installation in Hong Kong
RFID at HKU Libraries: WHY? Circulating items 1.1 1.5 million loan transactions p.a. Large number of return transactions Up to 11,000 loans in Main Library in 1 day Over 100,000 registered library users
This is WHY? Main Library: 08/10/08, 12:50
RFID at HKU Libraries: WHY? Self check (in and out) Patron satisfaction Staff productivity/savings/redeployment Staff satisfaction Security Inventory control/collection management The needle in the haystack Long term benefits/savings
Our requirements Interface with the existing Library Management System; Self check which will reduce the need for staff to perform repetitive check in and check out activities; Achieve a goal of 60 80% self check, resulting in staff savings; Implemented in the Main Library and in selected branches in the future; Improved decision making through the timely, accurate and comprehensive reporting; Efficient collection management, including stock take, shelf reading, and identification of reserved items; Added security of Library items, resulting in a reduction in loss of Library resources.
RFID at HKUL In discussion pre 2001 Lengthy tender process involving demonstrations from 7 vendors, (Nov, 2006 Feb 2007) Tender awarded September 2007
Why this partnership? International reputations Customised solution Further expansion Developmental opportunity for HKUL staff
Implementation : Tagging conversion May, 2008 22 temporary staff (3 supervisors, 19 taggers and shelvers) Workstations on each floor
Tagging milestone: 6 October, 2008 1,000,000th item tagged!!
Circulation milestone: 28 August 2008
28 August 2008
28 August 2008
Security milestone: 28 August 2008
Self check milestone: 9 October
Future milestones: Returns room
Future milestones: Hand held inventory Portable, powerful hand held WiFi "wand" antenna with lightweight reader. Ergonomic device quickly scans up to 20 standing or stacked items per second. Used to search for and identify mis placed RFID tagged items and manage inventory.
Future milestones: 24x7 ATM?
Further phases 1. Evaluation 2. Cost/benefit analysis 3. Deployment in larger branches? All branches?
Thank you!